You may remember two hurricanes last year: hurricane Harvey killed at least 39 people in Houston and across Texas; hurricane Irma crashed through the Caribbean before smashing into Florida. It was a terrible time for thousands of people – homes and businesses destroyed,

For Green Christians and, let’s face it, for everyone how we understand our connection to creation and to the creator is the key question. There seem to be three ways of thinking about this which I would summarise as:

It is often said that the gospel has a bias to the poor but reading Luke 12:32-40 alongside Luke 12:13-21 what I detect is good news for the anxious middle. Those who have something to sell but are worried about the value of what they have to sell,

It is often said that the gospel has a bias to the poor but reading to-day’s gospel alongside last weeks what I detect is good news for the anxious middle. Those who have something to sell but are worried about the value of what they have to sell, those who fear that their income will not guarantee their security or that their purses or pensions plans will grow old and develop holes through which their status and security will disappear.

Just imagine for a moment. It’s the Sabbath day and you are in the synagogue-the usual people are all around you including that sad woman who has suffered some sort of curvature of the spine for 18 years. That’s a long time-best part of a life you might say-certainly 18 is a significant number in the Bible.

For a number of years I was a minister in County Durham and the chapels I served were located in what are known even today as “pit villages”. That is to say the entire economy of each place rested on one thing;